poor service from Est agent - can I refuse to pay full fee?

blue-kat

is there anything I can do about poor service from estate agents?
We were due to Exchange on Friday and it didn't happen. and it's not going to happen today either. which leaves us not knwoing what to do about booking removals, services etc. Completion date is supposed to be Tuesday week.

it's not happening today, according to my sol, our buyer hasn't returned the signed contract to his sol. I phoned our estate agent to ask her to phone the buyer to suggest he should take it there in person today because the whole chain is waiting on them, and they've had since March 9.
She refused citing client confidentiality, and that she had to speak to his sol 1st.

sounds like a load of hogwash to me. any thoughts? maybe I am just being unreasonable because I'm the midst of house moving hell.

I thought it was the estate agent's job to facilitate the sale. All along she has tried to pass the buck or blame our solicitor, when it's the buyers who have been extremely difficult and causing delays. I think we've had poor advise from them, at their suggestion the price has been dropped massively, and wondering if I have any right to redress? I've made any effort to get on with the estate agent, but my gut feeling is that they've not acted in my best interests.

I resent paying them £1.4K for shoddy service. Obvisouly I don't want to do anything that would just hold up the sale.
ggrrrr! :mad:
thanks !

[Deleted User]

If you feel the estate agent is not doing their bit you need to speak first to the manager and make an informal complaint.

From what you are saying however, I think it's your SOLICITOR who needs to put a rocket up the backsides of the buyers solicitor.

If the chain is complete, and everyone has been waiting since March 9 to exchange, it sounds to me like your buyers are either timewasters or are not serious about completing.

Yes, it is up to the estate agent to facilitate the sale, but they have found you the buyer - it's the legal wheels that have stopped turning simply because the contracts are not in place to exchange.

Are you desperate enough to instruct your solicitor to give a deadline to exchange by? Deadlines have a way of working or - the opposite.

Perhaps you should instruct you solicitor to find out exactly what the delay is in their not having received the contract back from their client.

I would be suspicious by now that the buyer may be hedging their bets and is either looking elsewhere for another property at the same time - or could be looking to gazunder you at the last minute.

You need some answers - but via the solicitor.

blue-kat

thanks
sorry I didn't explain very well. it's not as bad as waiting to Exchange since March 9.

Hopefully the Exchange will take place over next few days, with completion next Tuesday. I am a bit concerned that the buyer will try to gazunder.

Squidgy

I think you'll have to pay the full fee (unless you make a big complaint, although it sounds as if you should be complaining to your solicitors) as I imagine you signed a contract when you appointed an estate agent?

Housenet

Squidgy wrote:

I think you'll have to pay the full fee (unless you make a big complaint, although it sounds as if you should be complaining to your solicitors) as I imagine you signed a contract when you appointed an estate agent?

Your solicitor will advise you on the best course of action if there is any. We get a few calls at https://www.Housenet.co.uk when vendors have had problems but unfortunately we can usually only suggest a formal complaint and getting in contact with a legal representative. Let's face it, it's what you're paying them for.

Good luck anyway.

lush_walrus

Your estate agent can not possibly force your buyer to go in and sign the contracts, it is for them to do bar threatening them, she can only relay to you what she is told by your solicitor, their solicitor and your buyer. It is reasonable to expect your EA to call everyone in the chain, but I bet she is doing that anyway till the sale is through, they dont get paid.

blue-kat

thanks for the replies.
. All I have asked the EA to do is to call the buyer ( as I can't as I don't have their phone #) to ask them to hurry up as whole chain is waiting on them, but she refused. I have twice asked to speak to a supervisor and been refused.

I had higher expectations of the EA firm, and am disappointed in their cust. services

spottydog

blue-kat wrote:

thanks for the replies.
. All I have asked the EA to do is to call the buyer ( as I can't as I don't have their phone #) to ask them to hurry up as whole chain is waiting on them, but she refused. I have twice asked to speak to a supervisor and been refused.

I had higher expectations of the EA firm, and am disappointed in their cust. services

When we last sold a property (a few years ago now) we had the same problem with our buyer (and lost one property through her empty exchange promises). In the end we told our estate agents that unless we exchanged by the end of the day we were pulling out of the deal (as they had not found a willing and able buyer they couldn't claim their fees) and would be remarketing with a new agent, that worked and we had a phone call from our solicitor about 4.55pm to say the exchange had finally taken place.

It may be worth trying something similar, although probably not quite as harsh in todays market, after all the estate agent wants their commission.

Otherwise if the estate agent are part of a chain contact their head office (preferably the MD) with a faxed formal complaint asking for a response within 24 hours.

blue-kat

thanks Spottydog :beer:

good news - we've finally Exchanged, and buyer didn't try to gazunder.

we will get our house
& the EA wil get paid, because poor customer services isn't covered by the contract :rolleyes:

but they certainly won't be getting word of mouth recommendations from me.

Ember999

blue-kat wrote:

thanks Spottydog :beer:

good news - we've finally Exchanged, and buyer didn't try to gazunder.

we will get our house
& the EA wil get paid, because poor customer services isn't covered by the contract :rolleyes:

but they certainly won't be getting word of mouth recommendations from me.

I just found this thread whilst browsing and am going through a house purchase myself (not the same thing though, no problems as yet...touch wood ) but just wanted to say...

Well done!......Good Luck!.........Enjoy your new home! :j :j :j

kevinyork

Great to read this post and find a happy ending (almost) at the end of it all.

Ive bought and sold 3 times in the last 2 years and have never been totally happy with the estate agents involved. Once they have found a buyer they seem happy to sit back and wait for their fee to arrive. I think most people that have problems with estate agents probably dont bother to complain if the purchase/sale finally goes through as they are too busy moving and settling in.

The most basic problem for me seems to be a lack of good communication: not being able to get through to the person you need so having to leave a message, not being called back, not being kept up to date. On the last sale I dealt directly with my buyers over the phone and in person and had a good relationship with them and this highlghted outright lies being told by my agent i.e. they would say that the buyer hadnt signed certain documents etc etc when in fact they had! I would have to call my agent each week to check progress and invariably they didnt know and would have to chase things up and call me back. They frequetly didnt call me back and when I called again would get fobbed off with a lie or excuse. What made it worse was that one completion my buyers got flowers! I was the one paying them thousands of pounds and I didnt even get a thank you!

I believe that there efforts are focussed on getting sales therefore do not invest staff time in progressing offers through to completion. Seems a silly stance to me as their lack of proactivity in ensuring the sale goes through could end up with a sale collapsing and them losing their fee altogether.

I ended up writing a constructive 2 page letter to my last agent saying how their service had been a let down from my point of view and gave specific names and times when either I hadnt received a promised action or they had outright lied to me. Despite hand delivering it and emailing it to their Director they didnt even have the courtousy to reply. I believe you can send complaints to thier ombudsman however the areas of dissatisfaction I had werent negligence as suchm, just very poor service. Unfortunately they dont seem to have to rely on repeat business because the majority of us only need an estate agent rarely. My experiences of poor service by the way applied to both the 'cheapest' agent and the most 'expensive' one in my area.

My advice, keep on top of them. Let them know from day one that you will not be accepting failed call backs, lack of information and misinformation and the first time it happens ask to be put through to the manager. I think most people in the stressful time of selling/buying dont want to inflate their stress by aggrevating a situation so we probably let them off the hook too often.